Former T&G Exec to Launch ‘Worcester Sun’ Newspaper

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Saturday, January 31, 2015

GoLocal Worcester News Team

Mark Henderson, former Online Director of the Telegram and Gazette, has begun a Kickstarter campaign to launch 'Worcester Sun,' a Sunday print newspaper with a daily digital news feed.

Henderson is hoping to raise $150,000 through Kickstarter to launch the Worcester Sun by this summer. According to the campaign's page, the Sun will be "a user-friendly and consumer-friendly digital presence," complemented by "a well-designed and well-edited Sunday newspaper."

Access to the Sun will be availabe for only $1 a week. According to the Kickstarter site, the Sun will be the first start-up of its kind to produce a print Sunday paper.

"Anyone in the media business in the past ten years, is intimately familiar with cutbacks, buyouts and layoffs. According to one survey, one-third of all newsroom jobs have been eliminated across the country since 2004," said Henderson in a video on his Kickstarter site. "When you give people less, the price people pay for local journalism goes up."

Henderson, who worked more than 20 years for the T&G, isn't doing this alone. Former Sentinel & Enterprise reporter and editor at MetroWest Daily, Fred Hurlbrink Jr., will also be joining the ranks of the Worcester Sun.

"If there's a silver lining in all of these cutbacks, it's that there is now a talented, experienced pool of journalists ready to try new things, but which recognizes the need for the kind of journalism that can lead to positive change. This is where the Worcester Sun comes in," said Henderson.